Labor and management to submit first revised proposals Tuesday

Ryu Ki-jung, executive vice president of the Korea Employers Federation, left, and Ryu Ki-seop, secretary-general of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and a worker representative on the panel, listen to remarks at the Minimum Wage Commission's ninth plenary session at the Government Complex Sejong on June 25. At the previous session, labor formally proposed raising the minimum wage 16.3 percent to 12,000 won per hour from this year's 10,320 won ($7), while management called for keeping it unchanged at 10,320 won. [Yonhap]
Ryu Ki-jung, executive vice president of the Korea Employers Federation, left, and Ryu Ki-seop, secretary-general of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and a worker representative on the panel, listen to remarks at the Minimum Wage Commission's ninth plenary session at the Government Complex Sejong on June 25. At the previous session, labor formally proposed raising the minimum wage 16.3 percent to 12,000 won per hour from this year's 10,320 won ($7), while management called for keeping it unchanged at 10,320 won. [Yonhap]

Deliberations to set the minimum wage for 2027 have again missed the legal deadline. With labor and management 1,680 won apart on their opening positions, both sides are expected to submit their first revised proposals at Tuesday's Minimum Wage Commission plenary session, marking the start of substantive bargaining.

The commission will hold its 10th plenary session Tuesday at 3 p.m. at the Government Complex Sejong to continue deliberations on next year's minimum wage level.

Under the law, the commission must reach a decision within 90 days of receiving a review request from the minister of employment and labor. This year's legal deadline was Sunday, but the two sides failed to narrow their differences in time, making this yet another year in which the deadline was not met. Since the minimum wage system took effect in 1988, the legal deadline has been met only nine times.

Missing the deadline does not end the process, however. The commission must submit a proposed minimum wage to the minister of employment and labor by mid-July to allow time for subsequent administrative procedures, including the official gazette notice. A final agreement or vote is therefore likely to come in mid-July, as in previous years.

The gap between the two sides' opening positions stands at 1,680 won per hour. Labor has proposed 12,000 won — a 16.3 percent increase from this year's 10,320 won ($7) — while management has called for freezing the rate at the current 10,320 won.

Labor argues that a meaningful increase is needed to stabilize the livelihoods of low-wage workers amid rising prices and growing cost-of-living pressures. Management, meanwhile, contends that a freeze is unavoidable given the deteriorating business conditions facing small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed operators, who are grappling with sluggish domestic demand, high inflation and a weak won.

Both sides are expected to present their first revised proposals at Tuesday's session and begin narrowing the gap. Minimum wage deliberations typically proceed through successive rounds of revised proposals that gradually close the distance between the two sides.

Recent minimum wage decisions have been: 9,160 won in 2022 (up 5.05 percent), 9,620 won in 2023 (up 5.0 percent), 9,860 won in 2024 (up 2.5 percent), 10,030 won in 2025 (up 1.7 percent), and 10,320 won in 2026 (up 2.9 percent).


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